


Two Peas in a Pod

by Masterread



Series: Discovery in Gay SpACE [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Asexual Dan Howell, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-05-18 09:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14850185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterread/pseuds/Masterread
Summary: In a fiasco involving Dan accidentally putting on Phil's jeans, and Louise making some choice jokes, Dan is thrown back into an existential identity crisis at the discovery of "asexuality".  If love doesn't need to include sex, what could that mean for Dan and Phil? Read on to find out how this question haunts our poor Dan.Title change





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning on making this a chapter fic, not sure where it will lead me yet, but definitely so deep into pining I've planted a new forest.

It caught him off guard, because he didn’t expect this to happen. 

When Dan had dropped out of Uni and moved in with Phil, he expected to become better friends with Phil. And they had. Dan had expected possibly to gain a few more media skills from Phil, and he did but also taught Phil a thing or two about his artistry in the meantime. Dan had expected they would grow closer, and for the first time in his life Dan felt safe somewhere. It’s not that he grew up in a terrible place, but he didn’t feel safe with himself. Phil was this calm guiding force that somehow made everyday full of light, even when it was 2 am and Dan was having a depressive episode alone. He always knew he’d wake up and Phil would be there. His best friend gave him more consistency than he had ever expected from life.

What he didn’t expect came one day a few years of living together. Dan and Louise had just filmed an awkward video and laughed so hard Dan had spilled a half full glass of water on his jeans. Louise literally rolled on the carpet in Dan’s room laughing when Dan told her.

“You WHAT!” She screeched in between rolls. Dan did a half smirk, smiling wider as Louise continued to roll.

“JUST A LITTLE BIT OK” Dan cautioned standing up and moving to the clothing pile in the corner, “Now do you mind- I need to change”. Dan gestured at the clothes.

Louise stopped rolling and put her head up on her elbows. “Oh, I don’t mind” She winked and Dan huffed.

“Voyeur”

“Give me a good show”

Dan laughed, “They don’t call me the “worst showman” for anything, ha ha” He slipped off his wet jeans, not really caring Louise could see his dark Link boxers. He picked up the most likely clean jeans off the floor and began to put them on. Slipping them on, Louise cleared her throat.

“Um Dan...” She looked up and down the jeans and laughed.

“What- Oh Christ” The jeans were a few inches shorter than they should be and clearly didn’t fit him. “These must be Phil’s”

“Ooo Philly’s clothes in Danny’s closet. Well, I’m not one to judge” Louise said as she returned to the chair, teasing Dan ever so slightly.

Dan took off the jeans quickly and put on the next pair of skinny jeans on the floor. These fit properly. “Louise, I know what you’re insinuating and I would just like to say I’m appalled! So dirty minded”

“Hey I wasn’t insinuating anything mister, but I am saying you aren’t on camera, so if you care to share any dirty secrets, I’m here” She looked at him and winked.

“Well to asnwer your obvious question, Phil and I aren’t fucking. His jeans are in here because we did a quick pastel Dan and Phil video and he forgot them here.” Dan was a little irritated now. He didn’t appreciate Louise, their friend of all people, making assumptions. He got it enough online, and it’s not that they bothered him, he just didn’t like to be reminded of them, that’s all.

“Heeeeyyyyy there’s tons of reasons clothes could just be laying in your room other than a naked romp in the sheets.” Louise put up her hands, trying to defend herself from Dan’s harsh tone.

“Pray tell what non-sexual reasons exist” Dan crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow, leaning back in his chair.

“Sometimes couples just like to sleep together, and I mean I don’t know if Phil sleeps nude, but some people sleep in just their pants so maybe he took off the jeans before snuggling up.” Louise offered her solution, tilting her head, sealing her point. 

“Sure Louise, like people would ever share a bed if they’re not fucking.” Dan snarked, starting Golf with Friends so they could play a match before she left to go pick her kids up from school.

Louise’s brows furrowed, “Dan do you really think all couples do is fuck? Love doesn’t always include sex. You and Phil-”

“Know what Louise? I haven’t dated in years, and I don’t have any plans. I may be gay, but Youtube’s my only husband I could ever need, no forced encounters under the covers and definitely none with Phil”

Louise sat back her eyes going wide, “Ok Dan, I’ll drop it. But you might just want to google around a little bit. I think you might want to look into asexuality, just an inkling on my part”

“I wil. Now let’s golf” 

Louise picked up her laptop from the table and woke up the screen, ready to play. This was a treat for each other, no video, just gaming. Dan quickly shook his iiritation after falling into the first water hazard, and the tension in the room just melted away. Every so often Louise would look at Dan out of the corner of her eye, worried about the Dan she had just seen. Dan ignored her looks, even though on the inside all he could think of was the term “asexuality”. What did Louise think he was? What did that mean? It unsettled him, but he threw himself into the game with abandon.

After an hour of playing and loud yelling, Louise received a call on her phone that she needed to go pick up the kids a bit early because her youngest had bit someone’s finger. “Bye Danny, have a fab night, love” She waved hurriedly as she picked up her things and left.

“Tell the kid to bite harder next time!” He shot back as he closed the game to scroll the interwebs, and consider new content ideas.

Lounging back on his bed, he sprawled out scrolling his phone a few inches from his face.

“Asexuality” He typed in google. “Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity” Read wikipedia. Dan clicked further through the searches, his breath catching.

“Asexual people have the same emotional needs as everybody else and are just as capable of forming intimate relationships... A good proportion of asexuals get crushes on others and fall in love. Emotional and romantic attraction are separate from sexual attraction” Read Aven, the Asexual Visibility and Education Network.

Dan froze reading those lines. He wasn’t sure how Louise read him so well, but something about this definition just shook him to the bone. He’d never fit in with the guys at school when they talked about girls, and they just almost called him gay because he was a little feminine. When he’d started looking on the internet for friends and a life he met so many amazing people, and guys, he’d even secretly liked a few of them. He just assumed he was gay. A few one night stands in Uni very quickly told him even if he was gay, sex just wasn’t for him. So he stopped looking, because that’s what every guy he’d ever met had wanted from him. Or at least he thought so.

Louise said love didn’t have to be sexual. She thought Dan and Phil would know that by now. Did she think Dan was in love with Phil?

His phone had gone to sleep he’d been staring at for so long.

He heard a knock at his door and sat up quickly, trying to wipe the shock from his face. “Come in”

“Hey Dan, you got my jeans from the-oh here they are.” Phil chuckled picking them up, “Wait, they’re rumpled like you took them off, did you try them on Dan” He lifted the pants smiling and laughing, “I can’t imagine these fit you”

“They fit spectacular, especially on my existent ass” Dan tried to hide his emotional turmoil with some pointed humor. He smiled broadly at Phil.  
“Sure Dan. Sure. Anyways, I’m ordering Pizza. See you in the main room in 10.” Phil left bringing his pants, now nicely folded in his hands.

Dan breathed out and laid down, placing his phone next to him. Watching Phil walk away after announcing joint dinner plans, Dan realized that Louise was right. Love could come in more ways than sex, and it might of just folded dirty pants in his bedroom.

Staring up at the ceiling, Dan next expected falling in love could be so unexpected, and wonderful at the same time.


	2. Love Me A Good Furry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Phil, chilling on the couch, looking at fursona art. No need for Dan to be angsty, right?

During one of their next videos Dan and Phil worked on creating their scalesonas, much to their fans delight. Dan gleefully scrolled through the comments and tweets after it posted, all the fans practically drooling over his step further into the furry life.

One fan had even redrew his scalesona to include some very detailed abs and genitals. Phil had been walking by and stopped when he saw the whopping penis out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey Dan, what's that?” He chuckled, pointing over Dan's shoulder.

“It's clearly a reflection of my inner soul come true” Dan cooly replied.

Phil laughed, walking back into the kitchen to make some tea. Dan mused on the fact that so much of the fan art really sexed up his scalesona, but he didn't really see the appeal. The humongous genitals though were hilarious look at and nearly hypnotizing. He also felt just the slightest pang of loneliness. Even if Dan was a furry, he'd never fit in with the sex hungry lifestyle.

Phil shook Dan out of his deep scrolling placing a cuppa in front of him, and sitting down on the couch with his own cup. Phil turned on the screen, humming to himself the latest theme song of their last binge. Dan smiled a little.

Dan looked at Phil and the cup and his matching cup on the table. He felt something stir. Just a little bit of tightness in chest. Phil made Dan tea every day. Without asking. He had just spent an hour scrolling through the fantasies of his fans, amused and confused by their creativity, only to be brought back to earth by Phil's presence. He thought back to his conversation with Louise a few nights back, his heart beating faster. She had opened up Pandora's box and Dan wanted it closed.

Phil looked over and saw Dan's almost happy but distant expression. “What'd you find that's got you in deep thought?” He asked.

“Oh nothing just another furry dick, you know how it is” 

Phil laughed and poked Dan in the knee. “You know me, love me a good furry”.

Dan laughed, punching Phil in the arm who mocked dire injury.

Phil went back to scrolling through Netflix leaving Dan to his thoughts.

He scrolled on his phone without looking. Nothing felt better than sitting here with Phil and joking with Phil. But that didn't have to mean anything. This didn't have to mean he was falling in love if he didn't want it to. He didn't want anything to change. He wanted to drink matching cups of tea with Phil until the end.

But Phil just said “he loves a good furry”. Dan's thoughts started to swirl. What if Phil felt the same way? It was just a joke right? Was he sure of his own feelings? And then the most troubling part hit him: if anything of his scrolling has taught him anything, he's not enough of furry due to his disinterest in sex. What if Phil would love a good furry and Dan's a bad one?

“I think I'm going to go take a nap” Dan said suddenly standing up.

“Okay! Take your tea, sleeping beauty”

Dan left the room, cradling his tea. His body feeling heavier the closer he got to his bed. Who knew falling in the love could be so hard?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know furries aren't just sexual. Dan hasn't exactly done his research, he just wants to angst, ok?
> 
> Sorry for the short chapter, I'll try to write longer ones, this is just my first chapter fic!

**Author's Note:**

> Asexuality is a very personal thing, and I really recommend AVEN if you're looking for any resources. I'm not saying every asexual experiences things like this but this resonates for me. Please leave me any suggestions or feedback you wish! Thanks for reading!


End file.
